Online advertising frequently involves both a publisher, who integrates advertisements into its online content, and an advertiser, who provides the advertisements to be displayed on the publisher's content, similar to other advertising media. Various forms of online advertising may include email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile advertising.
However, while online advertising may provide a low-cost tool for reaching large audiences, the online community increasingly regards Online advertising as obtrusive and invasive. Moreover, Online advertising may be an avenue for Internet crime, subjecting users to various scams, and malware downloads.
Thus, users have come to habitually ignore ads, and may even employ ad-blocking or ad-filtering technology to screen out ads, while a number of browsers block unsolicited pop-up ads by default.
Legitimate advertisers may find themselves victims as well. For example, in cost-per-click ads, wherein advertisers pay each time a user clicks on the ad, fraud may occur when a publisher or third party clicks on an ad with no legitimate buying intent. This can occur, for example, when a competitor clicks on ads to deplete its rival's advertising budget, or when publishers attempt to manufacture revenue.
As such, there is a need for improved advertising methods that are both safe and welcomed by the consumer, and provide effective marketing for the advertiser.